1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a customer information retrieving method and a customer information retrieving apparatus for retrieving a desired customer based on information relating to customers, and to a database consisting of various information. More specifically, the invention relates to a customer information retrieving method, a customer information retrieving apparatus, a data preparation method, and a database which are suitable for retrieving desired customer information based on profiles of customers, such as gender, age, and the like.
2. Background Art
A consumer database has been adopted as a means for searching information to determine future consumer activity. The articles stored in a conventional consumer database are, for example, basic attributes of customers such as gender, age, occupation, and the like and behavior history such as a time-based record of product purchases.
By statistically dealing with data with use of this customer database, a certain rule is found in behavior patterns of customers and utilized for estimation of behaviors of customers.
For example, there may be an analysis result that a man who buys a diaper buys a beer together with high probability.
Data mining is a method for extracting such a rule hidden in a customer database and for assisting determination and has attracted large attention. Attention has been recently paid to the data mining.
Data mining is also a high level method for searching or modeling a cause-effect relationship or pattern hidden in data of a large capacity. This method enables a relationship among complicated data to be established, and is also a mind determination assist method which has attracted attention in recent years in the fields of artificial intelligence, data technology, and the like.
Note that this data mining is applicable to various fields and assists solution to questions as follows: What is the product which customers will buy next where past purchase records are taken into consideration?; when does a processing error take place in dealing with credit cards?; why did customers switch to a rival company?; how can a company recover the customers?; and what is the most suitable method for dividing customers into segments depending on purchase patterns?.
The present invention recognizes that a conventional database merely compiles superficial behaviors of customers divided into articles. Therefore, thought patterns underlying behaviors of customers cannot be estimated based on the rules extracted from this kind of database.
In addition, even in cases where direct marketing is carried out with individual persons taken as targets, determinations are made only on the basis of information and behaviors as their outer appearances, so effective marketing cannot be achieved.
Further, when performing direct marketing with respect to a particular product or service, a specific segment (e.g., limited to women in their twenties) in a customer database is dealt with as a target of approach. In this method, however, it is difficult to pick up most promising customers with appended orders from a large-scale customer database since customers in the segment are dealt with impartially.
In general cases, data mining extracts a rule between items in a database by analyzing the contents of a customer database. Consequently, it is not possible to extract a relationship between an item existing in a customer database and an item not existing in the customer database. That is, with data mining, unless a target from which a rule should be extracted is clear, a rule cannot be extracted about the item. Hence, it has been said to be difficult to apply an analysis result to business in another field even when an existing database is analyzed.
Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above actual situation and has an object of providing a customer information retrieving method, a customer information retrieving apparatus, a data preparation method, and a database, which are capable of improving the accuracy in extracting a rule about customers.
To achieve the above object, in a customer information retrieving method according to the present invention, customer inner information concerning a mental side of each customer and customer outer information which includes at least basic attributes of each customer are stored in storage means, and a potential of a customer for a particular product or service is calculated, based on the customer inner information and the customer outer information stored in the storage means.
That is, in this customer information retrieving method, a potential of a customer for a particular product or service is calculated, based on customer inner information in addition to customer outer information.
The potential calculated by this customer information retrieving method serves as an index which accurately indicates whether or not the customer is a latent customer for a particular product or service.
Also, to achieve the above object, a customer information retrieving apparatus according to the present invention comprises: storage means in which customer inner information concerning a mental side of each customer and customer outer information which includes at least basic attributes of each customer are stored; and potential calculation means for calculating a potential of a customer for a particular product or service, based on the customer inner information and the customer outer information stored in the storage means.
The customer information retrieving apparatus having the structure as described above calculates a potential of a customer for a particular product or service, by the potential calculation means, based on customer inner information in addition to customer outer information stored in the storage means.
The potential calculated by this customer information retrieving apparatus serves as an index which accurately indicates whether or not the customer is a latent customer for a particular product or service.
Also, to achieve the above object, a data preparation method according to the present invention stores customer inner information concerning a mental side of each customer and customer outer information which includes at least basic attributes of each customer stored into storage means.
The potential calculated with use of customer inner information and customer outer information stored in the storage means by the data preparation method serves as an index which accurately indicates whether or not the customer is a latent customer for a particular product or service.
Also, to achieve the above object, a database according to the present invention comprises: first customer information picked up from an existing customer data base consisting of information concerning customers, to obtain a potential of a product or service; and second customer information indicating information concerning customers newly attained to obtain a potential of a product or service. A rule existing in common to the first customer information and the second customer information which the database comprises is extracted.
Information which has already been obtained with respect to a customer is applied to the rule existing in common to the first customer information and the second customer information of the database, thereby to obtain an index which indicates whether or not the customer is a latent customer for a particular product or service.
Also, to achieve the above object, a customer information retrieving method according to the present invention extracts a rule existing in common to first customer information picked up from an existing customer data base consisting of information concerning customers, to obtain a potential of a product or service and second customer information indicating information concerning customers newly attained to obtain a potential of a product or service.
Information which has already been obtained with respect to a customer is applied to the rule existing in common to the first customer information and the second customer information extracted by the customer information retrieving method, thereby to obtain an index which indicates whether or not the customer is a latent customer for a particular product or service.
According to the customer information retrieving method of the present invention, customer inner information concerning a mental side of each customer and customer outer information which includes at least basic attributes of each customer are stored in storage means, and a potential of a customer for a particular product or service is calculated, based on the customer inner information and the customer outer information stored in the storage means. As a result, accuracy in extracting a rule in latent customers can be improved.
Accordingly, it is possible to extract accurately latent customers for a particular product or service by the customer information retrieving method.
Also, the customer information retrieving apparatus according to the present invention comprises: storage means in which customer inner information concerning a mental side of each customer and customer outer information which includes at least basic attributes of each customer are stored; and potential calculation means for calculating a potential of a customer for a particular product or service, based on the customer inner information and the customer outer information stored in the storage means. As a result, the potential of a customer for a particular product or service can be calculated by the potential calculation means, based on the customer inner information and the customer outer information stored in the storage means.
As a result, the customer information retrieving apparatus is capable of improving the accuracy in extracting a rule in latent customers, so that latent customers for a particular product or service can be extracted accurately.
Also, the data preparation method according to the present invention stores customer inner information concerning a mental side of each customer and customer outer information which includes at least basic attributes of each customer stored into storage means. In this manner, it is possible to extract a rule in customers with use of the customer inner information and the customer outer information stored in the storage means. Further, extraction of a rule in latent customers, which is achieved on the basis of the customer inner information and the customer outer information, attains high accuracy.
Thus, according to this data preparation method, latent customers for a particular product or service can be extracted accurately.
Also, the database according to the present invention comprises: first customer information picked up from an existing customer data base consisting of information concerning customers, to obtain a potential of a product or service; and second customer information indicating information concerning customers newly attained to obtain a potential of a product or service. As a result, it is possible to extract a rule existing in common to the first customer information and the second customer information which the database comprises is extracted.
By applying information which has already been obtained with respect to a customer to the rule thus extracted, latent customers for a particular product or service can be accurately extracted, for example.
Also, a customer information retrieving method according to the present invention extracts a rule existing in common to first customer information picked up from an existing customer data base consisting of information concerning customers, to obtain a potential of a product or service and second customer information indicating information concerning customers newly attained to obtain a potential of a product or service. Thus, information which has already been obtained with respect to a customer can be applied to the rule thus extracted. As a result, for example, it is possible to extract accurately latent customers for a particular product or service.